New Datacentres Risk Doubling Great Britain's Electricity Use, Regulator Says (theguardian.com)
- Reference: 0180855290
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/02/24/1935207/new-datacentres-risk-doubling-great-britains-electricity-use-regulator-says
- Source link: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/23/new-datacentres-risk-doubling-uk-electricity-use-ofgem-peak-demand
> Ofgem said about 140 proposed datacentre schemes, driven by use of artificial intelligence, could require 50 gigawatts of electricity -- [1]5GW more than the country's current peak demand .
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> The figure was revealed in an Ofgem consultation on demand for new connections to the power grid. It pointed to a "surge in demand" for connection applications between November 2024 and June last year, with a significant number coming from datacentres. This has exceeded even the most ambitious forecasts.
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> Meanwhile, new renewable energy projects are not being connected to the grid at the pace they are being built to help meet the government's clean energy targets by the end of the decade. Ofgem said the work required to connect surging numbers of datacentres could mean delays for other projects that are "critical for decarbonisation and economic growth." Datacentres are the central nervous system of AI tools such as chatbots and image generators, playing a vital role in training and operating products such as ChatGPT and Gemini.
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/23/new-datacentres-risk-doubling-uk-electricity-use-ofgem-peak-demand
how can they do that (Score:2)
It's not like the electricity comes from nowhere.
Maybe we should build a load of wind capacity to power them. Then when the bubble bursts we'll have a load of power and maybe some GPUs to pick up cheap without exorbitant postage costs.
Re: (Score:2)
".. and maybe some GPUs to pick up cheap .."
Do you not realize that the hardware going into data centers isn't compatible with consumer interfaces?
When your navy decommissions ships, imagine thinking "Oh, I could buy that ship for cheap and go fishing on a pond with it."
Re: (Score:2)
there are many people who have home server setups built out of decommed DC hardware.
I have a couple 1U and 2U servers and there are more than a few intrepid souls who have much, much more, even some blade servers which I think is bonkers
So, charge them a higher rate to subsidise others (Score:3)
Charge heavy users on a sliding scale, and subsidise low use users rates with the added revenue.
They double count. (Score:2)
What happens (in the USA at least), is the tech companies know they are likely to be denied permission, so a single project will apply for permission in multiple different electrical grid areas.
If they get permission in two or more locations, they select one (after asking for bribes, erm I mean tax breaks) and build just at just one location.
We could just require the data centres to pay (Score:3)
It wouldn’t be beyond the wit of humanity to require data centres to pay for all their own genny power, insist on it being low carbon, and require them to pay a fee on top of that. If it means some of them go off in a huff, well, that just lessens the strain. If they go bust in a bubble, we end up with lots of loverly overcapacity, and it shouldn’t be that difficult to rejig the distribution to take advantage of it.
There is no reason that taxpayers or domestic energy bill payers have to shoulder the costs or suffer the problems.
We managed to auction off spectrum quite well, and we have S108 for housing which is not brilliant but better than nothing. We should just bloody do the same, and if Matt Clifford kicks off about it, tell him he’s a clever cookie and can help Claude and BX and all the rest of them figure out their new NPV calculations.
That would require a motivated, aware public. (Score:2)
No such public exists, either in the corrupt USA or passive, submissive UK.
Re: (Score:3)
In the US, local governments are in a race to the bottom. There are usually enough willing to participate (despite what the residents want) in an incentive bidding war to lure these development projects to the area for that short term economic benefit.
Elections rarely have anything to do with qualifications/plans for the future anymore, simply if you prefer to take it in the 'R'ump or like the big 'D'. Enough voters are blind followers and will keep incumbents in place regardless of destructive actions.